In Brazil, Azul Airlines announced that Amyris’s innovative renewable jet fuel sourced from Brazilian sugarcane has passed all required testing and will be used during a demonstration flight on an Azul Embraer 195 aircraft powered by GE’s CF34-10E engines. The “Azul+Verde” (a Greener Blue) flight will take place in Brazil on Tuesday, June 19th, during the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

Amyris’s renewable jet fuel has been designed to be compliant with Jet A/A-1 fuel specifications and provide equivalent performance versus conventional petroleum-derived fuel in a range of metrics, including fit-for-purpose properties and greenhouse gas emission reduction potential. The feedstock for the renewable jet fuel is sugarcane, a highly desirable biomass that can be produced sustainably in large-scale quantities in Brazil and other tropical countries.

Azul is the third largest airline in Brazil, a low-cost carrier connecting 48 destinations, 47 cities, with over 400 daily flights, and a fleet of 54 aircraft including 42 jets (32 Embraer 195 and 10 Embraer 190s) and 12 turboprops (7 ATR 72-600 and 5 ATR 72-200). To date, Azul has served more than 19 million customers.

The bottom line

It’s a test, but an important one, because this is one of the first fuels supplied directly from an advanced fermentation company – Solazyme has been supplying renewable oils for aviation biofuels, but the upgrading has been done by Honeywell’s UOP.

Further, we’ll watch this one with interest, because it is the first biofuels test-flight to tap the vast potential of sugarcane as an aviation biofuels feedstock.

Airlines around the world

In today’s Digest, we look at the latest news from airlines around the world – who’s moving on biofuels, and when and how?

The Americas

United States

Last week, United Airlines, Boeing, Honeywell’s UOP, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Clean Energy Trust announced the formation of the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative (MASBI), designed to advance aviation biofuel development in a 12-state region holding significant promise for biomass feedstock, technology development, job creation and sustainable commercialization.

Last December, American Airlines said that it expects to begin its first biofuel flights in mid-2012 using a Boeing ecoDemonstrator airplane to complete the flight. Around the same time as the Chapter 11 filing, the company signed agreements with two biojet suppliers as well as a purchase agreement. The airline announced its MOUs for biofuels supply at the CAAFI meeting in DC last week.

In February, Alaska Airlines said its decision to use 20% biofuel during its 75-flight biofuel commercialization program was limited to 20% because of lack of supply. With the fuel produced in Louisiana from used cooking oil, refined in Texas and sourced by a broker the Netherlands, the supply chain was very difficult. Beyond that, it cost $17 per gallon compared to $3.14 per gallon for A1 jet fuel.

Canada

In April, Porter Airlines successfully conducted the first biofuel-powered revenue flight in Canada. In the successful conclusion to a test program that was launched in 2010, the airline flew one of its Bombardier Q400 turboprops from its base at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Ottawa using a 50/50 blend of biofuel and Jet A1 fuel in one of its engines.
This is the final step in a two-year project whose key members besides Porter included Targeted Growth, Bombardier Aerospace, and Pratt and Whitney Canada, the manufacturer of the PW150A engines that power the Q400 aircraft.

The objective of the alliance is to promote public and private initiatives that seek to develop and certify sustainable biofuels for aviation. The goal will be achieved through dialogues with those who form public policies, as well as opinion makers, in order to obtain biofuels that are just as safe and cost efficient as petroleum derivatives.

Chile

In March, Netherlands-based SkyNRG suppliedLAN Chile and Air BP Copec for its first commercial flight with second generation jet fuel. The flight, which operated between the Chilean cities of Santiago and Concepcion, was conducted on an Airbus from the A320 family with CFM56-5B motors. The fuel came from used cooking oil.
The flight ended with an event held in the city of Concepcion, which was attended by Government and local authorities, and also by LAN and Air BP Copec executives.

Mexico

Last September, Aeromexicobegan using a 25 percent biofuel mixture on its flights from Mexico City to San Jose, Costa Rica. As part of the “Green Flights” project designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a Boeing 737 will now fly the route using a mixture of 75 percent conventional jet fuel and 25 percent synthetic paraffin biokerosene.
Aeromexico carried out its first transoceanic commercial flight using biofuels last month on the Mexico City-Madrid route.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Germany

Last December, Algae.Tec announced that Algae.Tec Ltd and the major European airlineLufthansa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly evaluate the potential for algae oil from Algae.Tec’s bio-reactors to be developed into a sustainable source of aviation biofuels.

In January, Lufthansa had announced that its flight trial from Frankfurt to Washington on Jan. 12 wouldbe its last using renewable jetfuel because it hasn’t been able to secure long-term sources of the biofuel. In all, 1,187 biofuel flights were operated between Hamburg and Frankfurt. According to initial calculations, CO2 emissions were reduced by 1,471 tonnes. Total consumption of the biokerosene mix amounted to 1,556 tonnes. Overall, Neste and Lufthansa found that the aircraft and their engines performed excellently. The condition of the combustion chambers, turbines, and fuel systems of their engines was exemplary both during and at the conclusion of the trial. Usage of NExBTL fuel resulted in 1% lower fuel consumption compared to regular fossil jet fuel.

France

In France, Air France completed its first biofuel-powered scheduled passenger flight, running on a 50/50 combination of traditional jet fuel and jet fuel produced from used cooking oil. Together with “optimised” air traffic management (ATM), the flight saved roughly 50% of its CO2 emissions, bringing the per passenger emissions rate down to 54g per kilometer.

UK

Last October, Virgin Atlantic said that it has teamed with LanzaTech to create renewable jet fuel that will power planes Shanghai and Delhi to Heathrow within two to three years. LanzaTech is working on producing its fuel in India and China, making those two destinations easy targets for implementation of the ‘green fleet.’ A flight demo with the new fuel is planned in the next 18 months, and the project will also include Boeing during the trial phases.

Within two to three years Virgin Atlantic plans flights with the new fuel on its routes from Shanghai and Delhi to London Heathrow as LanzaTech and partners develop facilities in China and India. The technology is currently being piloted in New Zealand, a larger demonstration facility will be commissioned in Shanghai this year, and the first commercial operation will be in place in China by 2014. Following successful implementation, a wider roll-out could include operations in the UK and the rest of the world.

Last October, Thomson Airways said it would fly passengers from Birmingham to Arrecife, on the Spanish Canary island of Lanzarote, using a combination of used cooking oil and regular jet fuel. The airline had originally hoped to start its biofuel flights last July, but experienced delays with testing and safety clearances. It claims that the use of biofuels could reduce the aviation industry’s carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 percent, and plans to use biofuels across its entire fleet within three years.

At the 2011 Paris Air Show, major European stakeholders set a goal of 600 million gallons (2 million metric tons) of annual sustainable biojet production by 2020 under a new program called Biofuel Flightpath. For Flightpath, the European Commission has teamed with Airbus, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, British Airways and biofuel producers Choren Industries, Neste Oil, Biomass Technology Group and UOP.

Spain

Last October national airline Iberiaflew the country’s first commercial flight using a 25% blend of biojet fuel made from camelina. The inaugural flight using an Airbus A320 flew from Madrid to Barcelona. The fuel was produced by UOP LLC, a unit of U.S.-based Honeywell International Inc. and certified by the oil company Repsol YPF SA.

Finland

Last July, Finnair announced plans to operate flights powered by biofuel. The airline operated an Airbus biofuel flight between Amsterdam Schiphol and Helsinki in the week of July 18th, running on a 50 percent blend of biofuel produced from recycled vegetable oil and kerosene, and was refuelled at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. The biofuel wasprovided by SkyNRG, a consortium launched by KLM, North Sea Group and Spring Associates to develop a sustainable supply chain for aviation biofuel.

Netherlands

Last June, KLM Royal Dutch Airlinesbecame the first airline in the world to operate a commercial flight carrying 171 passengers on aviation biofuels. Flight KL1233 – a Boeing 737-800 – took off from Schiphol bound for Charles de Gaulle in Paris carrying 171 passengers. KLM’s first commercial flight to Paris was operated on biokerosene produced from used cooking oil. This same raw material will be used in the flights scheduled for September. The fuel was supplied by Dynamic Fuels via SkyNRG, the consortium co-founded by KLM in 2009 with the North Sea Group and Spring Associates.

Qatar

In January, Qatar Airways was reported to be investing in the California firm Byogy Renewables, according to Bloomberg. Chris Schroeder, a senior manager with QA was quoted as saying, “We’re looking to underwrite an investment into Byogy of up to 10 percent, coupled with an off-take agreement… This will enable the company to go into the market and look for further equity investment or other partners.” Financial details were not given.

The Emirates

In the United Arab Emirates, Etihad’s delivery acceptance of a new Boeing 777-300ER, flown from Seattle to Abu Dhabi was completed using biofuel – the first such flight to be conducted in the Persian Gulf. The biofuel was supplied by Holland’s SkyNRG, sourced from recycled vegetable cooking oil.

South Africa

Last November, South African Airlinesnoted that it may have to use as much as 50% biofuels in its fuel supply by 2020 in order to avoid carbon penalties, which could in turn be the stimulus needed to create a thriving biofuels industry in South Africa and the region. Currently South Africa limits biofuel feedstocks to sorghum, sugar cane, sugar beet and jatropha.

Asia-Pacific

China

Last year, the China Air Transport Association stated that they oppose having their flights into Europe included in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. The ETS requires that all emitters to buy permits for each tonne of CO2 released, above a certain cap. The program is scheduled to start on January 1, 2012 and include most carriers.
CATA has stated that this plan will increases the costs for its members, and unless adjusted, CATA will ask their government in Beijing to look into countermeasures for European carriers flying into China. Analysts are quoted as saying that this will add between €1 and 1.4 billion in costs to airliners during the first year of the ETS.

Japan

In April, Boeing and All Nippon Airwaysreported that a 787 Dreamliner flew for the first time powered in part by sustainable biofuels. This was a delivery flight between Boeing’s Delivery Center in Everett, Washington and Tokyo Haneda Airport is also the first ever transpacific biofuel flight, using biofuel made mainly from used cooking oil and emitted an estimated 30 percent less CO2 emissions when compared to today’s similarly-sized airplanes.

Back in 2009, Japan Air Linestested camelina, jatropha and algae-based biofuels in a 747-300 test slight from Tokyo’s Haneda airport, but we haven’t heard much from JAL on biofuels since then. The fuel was processed by UOP, and used in a no-passenger test flight using Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines, and used a mixture of 84 percent camelina, nearly 16 percent jatropha, and less than one percent algae. The biodiesel was mixed in a B50 blend with conventional jet fuel.

Singapore

Thailand

In March, Thai Airways International launched a workshop jointly with the Ministry of Energy and PTT Public Company to focus on aviation biofuels, as a first step in the country’s effort to develop this sector.

Last year, Thai Airways announced plans to power a commercial passenger flight using only biofuel. Commercial flights were planned to begin on December 22 for the Bangkok to Chiang Mai route.The biofuel-powered flight supports the company’s Travel Green initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The first flight on December 21 will use a Boeing 777-200 plane.

India

In March, Indian Oil announced that it is working with Airbus, Kingfisher Airline and UOP to conduct biofuel test flights. Indian Oil, a state run corporation has signed pacts with Canadian universities and Pratt & Whitney to further their ambitions to join the growing group of countries pursuing bio-avjet.

Indonesia

Back in 2010, Garuda Indonesia exec Wendy Aritonang confirmed to the Jakarta Globe that “We are in the process of changing from [aviation fuel] to biofuel. Not a single [domestic] airline has done it yet. We will be implementing this plan in stages and it will not necessarily be achieved within this year.” The airline signed an MOU in February with the International Air Transport Association, committing to improving air travel services as well as to using biofuel.

We haven’t heard any advancement of the Garuda plans since then.

Australia

Qantas is operating under the AUS$500,000 Emerging Renewables Program grant, which enables Qantas to partner with Shell Australia for a feasibility study of long-term aviation biofuels. Other airlines in the country such as Virgin Australia are also working on aviation biofuels programs.

New Zealand

Last December, Air New Zealandannounced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Licella Pty Ltd to examine the development and commercialisation of a process to convert woody biomass into sustainable biofuel in New Zealand. Under the MOU Air New Zealand and Licella will jointly explore the potential of the technology to produce sustainable aviation biofuel in New Zealand.